RWBY - Exit Path
by CaptainFox1
Summary: Volume 3 never happened, Ember, Mercury, Emerald, and Roman have been locked up after being found out, and school started right back up for Team RWBY like it always had. But now, as RWBY's fourth and final year at Beacon comes to a close, how will the team suffice in the real world that awaits them outside the comforting walls of their great school? Strawberry Shortcake.
1. Sunset Over Beacon Academy

**Chapter One: Sunset Over Beacon Academy**

It was a single month from finals, and to be honest, _almost_ no one in the Fourth Year really cared. _Almost_ everyone went about their daily lives, ignoring the fact that their time at Beacon Academy was soon coming to a close. Teams RWBY and JNPR were ever the more closer to each other as the number of days they had at the prestigious school was getting smaller and smaller, ignoring their studies so that they could hang out before the two teams went their separate ways in the world. Of course, there was one person in that group of people who was all the more worried that their final test was coming up - Weiss Schnee. Unlike her teammates who were utterly nonchalant about their final quiz, the studious ice queen had already stayed up many nights with her head in one textbook or another.

Weiss lay on her bunk reading through the assigned pages in Professor Oobleck's _Pre-War Vacuo_ handbook for the fourteenth time that evening, deep in thought. Twiddling a gray mechanical pencil in her left hand, she held open both the textbook and her composition book with her right. Suddenly, her peace and quiet was interrupted as the door to the small dorm slammed open, revealing a _very_ annoyed Yang Xiao Long. Haughtily, she stomped into the room and directly into the bathroom for her evening shower, closing the worn door behind her quickly. Weiss sighed and stood up from the warm bed to walk to where Yang had been to close the front door for the upteenth time.

 _Every time, I say, she leaves the door wide open._ Weiss thought as she sighed and sat back down on her bunk. Soon after she had sat down to get back to work, and the sounds of cascading water from the bathroom had faded into white noise, she was interrupted again by the muffled voices of Blake and Ruby in the hallway. Deciding to greet her teammates, Weiss stood _again_ to walk to the door and open it, but stopped as the doorknob turned, and the pair stepped into the room. A cheery Ruby waved with a squeal and ran to give Weiss a hug - a trait of Ruby Weiss had eventually gotten used to. After Ruby released Weiss from her iron grip, she looked her over and frowned.

"Weiss, you look tired." She said. Weiss, easily annoyed in her _very_ tired state, simply rolled her eyes and sat back down on her bed wordlessly. Blake eyed Weiss as she buried her nose in the book again before sitting down on her respective bed as well.

"Weiss?" Ruby said, still standing in the middle of the room. Weiss, exasperated, sighed and looked up.

"What?" She snapped, louder than she had intended. Ruby flinched, and Weiss instantly regretted raising her voice at the red reaper. Blake, who had already reclined against the wall to read a novel, peered out from above it to raise her eyebrows.

"I…" Ruby began, looking nervously at the annoyed ice queen, "thought that you should take a break from studying. It may be finals, but you're worrying a little too much. It's your last month here, I thought that you should enjoy it. You need it." Of course, Weiss expected this - especially from Ruby - and, with _her_ mindset at least, became even more annoyed than she already was.

"I don't see how _not_ studying would benefit me. This test decides whether I graduate or not, _and I'm not going to fail it._ " Weiss hissed back, all the while still reading the text with her peripheral vision.

"But Weiss…"

"No, no buts. I'm not going any _where_ , or doing any _thing_ until I completely burn this information into my brain." Weiss said, turning her attention back to her book. Ruby, looking completely crestfallen, nodded and silently climbed up the ladder to the bunk above Weiss. At the same time, the door to the bathroom opened, and Yang stepped out in a T-shirt and short-shorts. The brawler, unknowing of the short exchange that had just occurred, looked at everyone before beaming widely.

"Let me guess, Weiss is being the Ice Queen again?" Yang remarked loudly.

"Seriously, Yang, you need to stop calling me that." Weiss muttered, only half her attention diverted to Yang. The brawler smirked and walked over to the completely oblivious form of Weiss and poked her in the shoulder.

"You, my dear, need to go outside." Yang said, accentuating the 'dear' as she wiggled a finger at the white-haired girl.

"I swear to god, now _two_ of you want to annoy me." Weiss said, closing her eyes and leaning her head on the edge of her book with a heavy sigh. Yang frowned and sat down at the desk under the large window, gazing out over the school's central courtyard before turning back to the engrossed young woman.

"Yep, you're coming with me." The brawler said finally, standing up and walking to Weiss quickly and taking her arm before she could protest. Of course, she did eventually, after her brain caught up with her body, and began shouting intelligible strings of words into the air as she was dragged from the room by Yang. Far down the hall, Ruby could still hear the loud protests of Weiss as she struggle to get free from the brawler.

Cracking her first smile since her exchange with Weiss, Ruby slid down from her bunk and walked over to a small cabinet next to Weiss' and Ruby's bunk bed, opening it to take out a small cellophane package of chocolate chip cookies. Ripping open the crinkly wrapper, Ruby - by default - offered one to Blake, who politely shook her head and went back to reading. Sitting down at the desk chair Yang had been, she quietly gnawed on the baked good while contemplating the different things her sister could have done with her teammate.

Weiss had stopped protesting quicker than she would have wanted to because she was so physically drained. Yang led her - not letting up on her iron grip on Weiss' arm - to the back of the building, and began climbing up the ladder to the roof. Weiss raised an annoyed eyebrow and just had to wonder where they were going. Yang replied quite simply 'To see the sunset.' Of course, the ice queen did not see this as a valid reason to halt studying, and quickly went back to complaining. And _yet_ , Weiss fell oddly silent as they got to the top and she looked at the view. From their height, Weiss could see over the bustling city to the tall, hazy mountains along the jagged horizon.

The sun was beginning to dip behind the tallest of the mountains, casting a long shadow down the center of Vale where the sun's brilliant light was being blocked. Yang sat Weiss down on the flat roof before sitting next to her. Contrary to her previous thoughts on the matter, Weiss sat in wondrous silence while staring at the ever-changing sunset.

"See? I knew you needed to be outside." As soon as Yang said that, Weiss' original thoughts came back to her, and the complaining started up once again. Yang rolled her eyes and sat in silence as she tuned out the girl. She, of all people, was actually deep in thought.

Roman Torchwick and most of his followers - Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury - had been put in prison over two-and-a-half years ago, but Yang still felt uneasy. That girl she had fought on the train oh-so-long ago… Neo. Yes, she was still out there, somewhere. Of course, there was no way that Neo would be able to break her teammates out of prison - the Atlas High Priority Detention Facility was guarded by a thousand Atlesian Soldiers and multiple airships. Torchwick and crew had well over a dozen charges that led them to having jail sentences well over a hundred years. It was a wonder they weren't just killed. The fact that Yang, an overconfident, hotheaded individual would be worried about a single girl with an umbrella was… odd, to say the least, but the feeling in her gut stayed.

"Yang?" She was snapped from her thoughts by Weiss, who had since leaned over the reclines girl with a raised eyebrow. The sun had completely set, and the shattered moon had risen into the ebony sky. Sitting up, Yang looked at Weiss and gave her her signature smile.

"Yes, Ms. Schnee?" Yang said overdramatically, waving her hands around. Weiss rolled her eyes and stood up, starting for the ladder back to the ground. She paused and turned around before giving the smallest of smiles.

"Thank you." She said, before disappearing down the metal ladder.


	2. A Neo Look

**Chapter Two: A Neo Look**

Alone, in a cold, dark alleyway sat a short, thin girl with multicolored hair. She sat against the back wall of an abandoned shop cradling her worn umbrella closely to her ice cold, frail body. This girl was named Neopolitan. It had been over two years since Neo had last seen her former friends - Roman Torchwick, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black - and her time being companionless was taking a toll on her sanity. Long ago had she forgotten how to smile, to laugh, or to love. But at the same time that she had left behind her basic humanity, she had gained something else. A hunger for strength, for power. No, not power - she did not want to become the next Ember Fall - no, she was a wicked being that deserved what she had gotten. What Neo wanted was to live in relative comfort again. To a normal person, that may not seem like something too hard - hell, she could probably just squat in a nice house on the fringe - but Neo, not being the greatest person in the world, was having a hard time getting around in society.

Neo flinched as the sound footsteps permeated her silence, causing her to lose her short train of thought. Looking up, she saw a person she did not expect to see ever again. A person she had _hoped_ not to see ever again. Yang Xiao Long stood tall with her hands on her hips with both of her combat gauntlets loaded and ready to fire.

"Alright, now why are _you_ here? Want a rematch?" The brawler spat, her voice filled with hatred. Instead of retaliating like she usually would, Neo sat calmly against the wall looking up at her assailant not even moving to get ready for battle. This, of course, knocked Yang out of her showy attitude, making her lower her arms to her sides.

"Still silent?" Yang asked, quickly getting back on track. Neo smiled thinly, and lowered her gaze to the ground. Yang came up to make her first strike on Neo, but froze when she spoke for the first time.

"No." Neo said shakily, standing up with support from the wall. Yang, shaking her head from hearing the girl's voice for the first time, threw her fist at Neo, who glanced it away from her using a quick flick from her umbrella. The battle continued for over ten minutes, but Yang was picking up on something - it was a purely defensive battle. Neo wasn't making any moves to actively attack back at her, and was merely moving the attacks away from an injury on her abdomen. Noting the fact that she was moving - very slowly - farther into the alley, Yang finally broke off her attack and flipped herself away from Neo, who stumbled painfully at the sudden stop in movement.

"Why are _you_ of all people in the middle of downtown Vale? Trying to find your friends? Newsflash, they've been in prison for years now!" Yang exclaimed before she paused, looked down, and deactivated Ember Celica. The two gauntlets folded back up into their normal bracelet form, and Yang's glowing magenta eyes slowly faded to their normal mauve color. Neo, surprised to see the hotheaded brawler stepping back, folded up her umbrella and leaned on it, pressing the tip into the ground. Yang stood there frozen, awaiting a response from the girl.

"I-I'm only here because I have nowhere else to go, a-and I was nearest to Vale." Neo stuttered out, shivering slightly in her thin clothing. Yang, being an older sister, softened at Neo's appearance and situation. But nonetheless, Yang was resolute in not allowing for Neo to get the best of her - she was her enemy, right?

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rearm Ember Celica and blast your head in?" Yang said, her rage at the girl coming back slowly. Neo frowned at this. It seemed that in this instance, Neo's humanity was trickling its way back into her cold body, and was starting to affect her thoughts. She wanted to make up to Yang and her team, to which she and her _friends_ had done great wrong. But with Yang's anger returning, chances and choices for negotiation were dwindling, and she found herself creeping back away from the yellow-haired girl.

"Because you know I can't fight back. I know even you aren't that cold." Neo reconciled, limping ever-so-slightly as she walked backwards into the alleyway. Yang frowned for a moment, and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Why are you here? No one caught you when we captured everyone else."

"R-Roman threw me out after I f-failed a mission for him. I've been on these streets for two years with little to no money. They… never came back for me. I don't want to ever be associated with them again. I'm trying to change." Neo said flatly, stopping her slow retreat. Yang sighed and walked up to Neo quickly. Neo flinched and closed her eyes, expecting a sharp pain or a hard impact, instead felt the light touch of a hand against her shoulder. Opening her hard-shut eyes, she gazed at Yang for a second with a questioning eye.

"My team isn't going to like this, and I doubt Ozpin will either, but you're coming with me. Can't leave you out here, even if you were my enemy." Neo picked up on the subtleties of her sentence. She said 'were', not 'are', meaning that she didn't see her as an enemy anymore, something Neo _wanted_. Standing up straight, she looked up at Yang with a half smile - she only came up to the brawlers chest, and had to actually crane her neck to look her in the eye. Slowly, her half smile spread into a bright, genuine smile. Yang's frown lessened, but still stayed.

Grabbing Neo by the arm, Yang led her down the long avenues of Downtown Vale to the Vale Airport, where four large commercial airships and one Atlesian Warship were docked, hovering above the ocean while connected to their respective platforms. Yang quickly walked up to the booth, bought two tickets, and brought Neo to the farthest left dock, nearest to the Atlesian ship. Neo eyed the tall, white Atlesian Knight-200 battle robots that stood off to the side of the entrance ramp of the airship they were boarding. Yang tugged on her arm and dragged Neo into the ship, bypassing the robots before they had a chance to scan them.

Of course, after what Neo had done to rob Schnee Dust Company trains and shipment, Atlesian soldiers had her face plastered on every wanted poster in Remnant. So, naturally, Neo had spent the greater half of her time in Vale avoiding Atlas robots patrolling the bustling city.

"I hope you're serious about changing, because I still don't know why I'm helping you." Yang muttered as they sat down in chairs at the back of the airship. Minutes later, after a long awkward silence, the airship finally lurched and took off, angling itself towards Beacon Tower in the distance. Yang, confident that Neo wouldn't kill her in her sleep, let her eyes close, and soon Neo was sitting in relative silence gazing out over Vale and the cerulean ocean below.

The trip to the Beacon Academy Airport on the back of the school was a short one, since the airship they were flying was a new model that could go exponentially faster than its predecessor. Almost as soon as Neo's eyes began to shut as sleep took her over, she was jolted awake as the airship touched down. Yang was roused too as the aircraft connected to its dock, and she stood up when the seatbelt light turned on above them. The pair walked through the center aisle of the ship and down the exit ramp attached to the door into the bright mid afternoon sun.

The _RWB_ of RWBY was already at the bottom, awaiting the arrival of Yang from whatever she had been doing, but they weren't expecting to see Neo. They all knew Neo - a merciless girl who was able to beat all four of them and escape with her superior. The first one to act was Weiss, who pulled out her rapier, Myrtenaster, and began to charge forward, that is, until Yang put a protective arm in front of Neo, causing Weiss to stumble to a stop as to not stab her teammate in the arm.

"What th- Yang, what is she doing here!" Weiss exclaimed, gesturing wildly at Neo. "First you go out on a _solo_ mission, and then you bring home one of our _enemies?!_ " Neo looked to the ground in despair, and Weiss faltered as she noticed this. Yang scowled and turned to Neo.

"One last time, Neo. I need to make sure. Are you sure you're trying to change for the better?" Yang asked, putting on her best 'big sis' tone. Neo nodded rapidly, and Yang looked at Weiss with a frown. Weiss blubbered for a second before sighing and walking back to the rest of Team RWBY, who had drawn and primed their weapons. Weiss urged for Ruby and Blake to not lower their weapons and to be ready for anything, but Ruby wasn't so sure. Yang _never_ showed her sisterly side of herself to anyone else - Ruby would know this, she was Yang's little sister, after all - and the fact that Yang was showing it to Neo now meant that she had ingrained trust to Neo.

Yang didn't know why she suddenly trusted Neo, she really didn't. But after seeing her living conditions, and hearing her explanation, she was able to almost… relate with the girl. Ignoring Weiss' hard gaze, Yang pulled Neo past the rest of her team and to the school proper, where she was led across the courtyard to the main tower. Pushing Neo into the elevator, the two girls started the short trip the top, where Professor Ozpin's office was.

"Neo, act as calm as possible." Yang said as the elevator door dinged. Sliding open, the metal door revealed a large office with the gears of the school's clock turning above it. On the far end of the room sat Professor Ozpin, who was watching the daily news while sipping his mug of coffee. Upon the unexpected arrival of the two girls, the headmaster switched off his screen and turned to face them.

"Neopolitan, yes?" Ozpin said, holding out his hand. Neo was reluctant, but shook back warily.

"Excuse me, sir, but how do you know my name?"

"Intuition," he paused, "and the fact that the Schnee Dust Company has cameras in its train cars when you raid them." Neo nodded politely.

"I'm going to assume that the reason Ms. Xiao Long brought you here is because you need a place to stay until school ends?"

"She's not going to interfere with finals, sir. We can just have her in the dorms." Yang said. Ozpin chuckled and stood up from his seat, looking down on Neo with a kind smile.

"Finals may be coming, but there still is class. I would recommend just bringing her along. She might as well hone her fighting style for the short time she's here - heaven knows she's talented enough _without_ going to a combat academy."

"Really, sir? You'd allow me to be in classes?"

"For a short time, only three weeks."

"I am grateful, sir."

"I'm sure you are. I will put in the paperwork, then. Neopolitan, you are now officially apart of Team RWBY until school ends." Ozpin said. "Now run along, I'm sure your teammates will want to get to _know_ you."


End file.
